Thursday 23rd May...
Linda - Oh we are soooooo tired tonight! We've been up since 3am when the predicted wind started to blow through for 12 hours gusting up to approx 30 knots. There was quite a number of boats in the anchorage and the quay was full of charter boats. I'm pleased to report that Thesee didn't drag anchor along with maybe two or three others that held firm. All the rest dragged at some point. Luckily, none were in front of us except one dragger who decided to re-anchor right in front of us, but he was a fair distance off us having dropped his anchor virtually on the beach!
One of the catamarans dragged so far that he almost ended up on the rocks. I really don't know how anyone could sleep through wind like that without waking up. One of the other boats sounded their horn to wake them but they still didn't appear. And another catamaran re-anchored right in front of our neighbour who was holding firm. You may have faith in your own anchor and technique but if someone else drags across your chain there's nothing you can do about it. So you have to keep watch all the time for AW's.
I took a photo of Thesee's track on Vessel Finder. The scribbly bit is 24 hours ago when we were sitting nicely bobbing about. The straight line is when the wind started up and the chain stretched out to its limit, then the little squiggle on the right is when we started to waver side to side when the gusts came. The 'Madita' boat is the one that re-anchored in front of us. In circumstances like these we always take photos showing other boat's dots and photos of the boats themselves just in case of a problem.
Tracking
Ship that arrived during the wind storm
Gusts across the water in the bay
More squiggle a bit later
One of the draggers
The boat in front of our neighbour
This morning a lot of boats came out of the marina and anchored in the bay. More cause for concern for us. The one in the photo above was one of those. He anchored in front of our neighbour, and when he came to lift his anchor, for some reason the whole lot of his chain and anchor detached from the boat and ended up on the sea bed. We knew there was a problem and as he turned towards us we could see his anchor was missing. After lunch a diver came to locate the missing anchor and chain and they were able to retrieve it. Wouldn't want to take a charter boat back with a missing anchor!
Dean attaching his tripping line and anchor buoy
A lovely anchorage.... at first
I was cooking pork chops at the time when we decided to leg it, up anchor and go around to the west coast of Kythnos. By 8pm we were in a new and more friendly anchorage with a quaint setting.
Anchorage number 2
Very scenic
And a serene sunset
We're still rolling about somewhat but I think tonight we will sleep, sleep, sleep.
Friday 24th May...
Linda - ... and sleep, sleep, sleep, is exactly what we did do.....like logs.
Today is our last island hop, this time heading to Kea. It's the last island before we head to the mainland tomorrow. First time we've been here and it was quite surprising. I just expected a barren island but it seems that there are a lot of luxurious homes built here. We came to the conclusion that it's the Athens rich man's weekend get-away.
Desirable residences in old windmills
Fancy residential apartments in secluded bays
With motor yachts moored
Approaching the main port
Lighthouse
It's a fair size bay with anchoring room and we picked a great spot just across from the quay, and settled in for the afternoon. Some boats came off the quay and came to anchor. At one point three boats were attempting to anchor. One of the boats dropped his anchor and for some reason kept going forward, subsequently running into an already anchored boat. Yikes. Don't see that very often. Dean said that the helmsman had gone forward to help with the anchor but he must have left the boat in forward gear. Idiot. The people in the 'hit' boat were obviously not happy at all, because their toe-rail had been dented and their side netting ripped apart. We don't know what other damage was done. Then the idiot boat didn't bother re-anchoring further away, he just stayed put. His boat was swaying side to side so much in the breeze they nearly hit again at one point. It must have been two hours before he moved to another spot further away.... and not near us thankfully.
View across to the quay
.... and looking the other way
After all the afternoon events, Dean got back under our bed to try and have another go at fixing the dodgy bowthruster. Here's his explanation about what's been going on....
Dean - OK so for those of us that are interested: The bow thruster is a very large 12 volt electric motor, it's used in short bursts but takes about 700 amps. Its controlled with a very small switch by the helm. So the very small switch operates a very small relay in a sealed box which in turn operates a very large solenoid relay which connects the batteries to the motor. I worked out that one of the very small relays was at fault. Are you still with me?
What's to lose. I cut the sealed box open, took out the printed circuit board (PCB) cut the top off the offending relay and cleaned the contacts. BINGO!!! it all works again. They have a new part in Athens so we will hopefully try and collect one over the next few days and I can keep the repaired one for a spare.
Inside the box with the top of the relay removed
Linda - So now we have a working bowthruster that thrusts both right and left, instead of right only. He's such a clever clogs.
Time to go out for a meal on this beautiful calm evening and celebrate our last night in the Cyclades. We obviously had to look at ALL the restaurant's menus before I could decide where we were eating. We ended up at a lovely taverna at the water's edge. This was our view from the taverna. If only all evenings were this serene.
It's goodnight from him
...and goodnight from me
Tomorrow our plan is to cross to the mainland near to Athens. It'll be about 25 to 30 miles depending upon which anchorage we end up in.
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